Devo Wrap: U.S. riders gaining valuable experience in European races

(April 14, 2014) – The USA Cycling National Development Program (NDP) provided its teams the opportunity to compete in some of the most notable races in Europe this past week and the American riders continued to hold their own on the demanding courses.

Ruth Winder earned the Best Young Rider jersey after stage 3 of the Energiewacht Tour in the Netherlands. (photo by Casey B. Gibson)

WOMEN'S ROAD

Energiewacht Tour

The six-member U.S. women's team raced in the five-stage Energiewacht Tour in the Netherlands April 9-13. The team encountered some bad luck during stage 2 as Kathryn Donovan (Oxnard, Calif./Twenty16 Pro Cycling) and Alexis Ryan (Ventura, Calif./UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Women's Team) were caught up in separate crashes and had to retire from the race.

That left the team with the minimum of four riders to contest the next day's team time trial, but the squad performed admirably and by the end of the day had put Ruth Winder (Lafayette, Calif./UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Women's Team) into the Best Young Rider's jersey. Unfortunately, bad luck struck again the next day as Maura Kinsella (Boulder, Colo./Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) also had to retire from the race after a crash, leaving the team with three riders for the final day.

Gavin Hoover finished second in the Grevenbicht Criterium on April 8. (photo by Billy Innes)

JUNIORS MEN'S ROAD

Paris-Roubaix

The juniors men's team also took to some fabled roads as they competed at Paris-Roubaix on April 13. Gavin Hoover (Manhattan Beach, Calif./SKLZ-Swami's Development Elite Team) finished in the lead group and placed 10th with an outstanding performance, earning the same time as winner Magnus Bak Klaris (DEN). Also finishing the grueling course were Jake Silverberg (Pembroke Pines, Fla./Interactive Metronome Development) in 27th and Jonny Brown (Covington, Tenn./Hot Tubes Development Cycling Team) who suffered an unfortunate flat tire late in the race but still managed to finish in 54th place.

Hoover also showed fine form earlier in the week when he finished second at the 3rd annual Aurora Grevenbicht Criterium in the Netherlands.

Ryan Eastman was the top U.S. finisher at the U23 Tour of Flanders placing 13th. (photo by Casey B. Gibson)

U23 MEN'S ROAD

Ronde van Vlaanderen Beloften

Six American riders raced on some of the most legendary cobbled Belgian roads during the U23 Ronde van Vlaanderen Beloften (Tour of Flanders) on April 12. The 165.7-kilometer race came down to a field sprint that included Ryan Eastman (Santa Rosa, Calif./Bissell Development Team). However, a large crash 100 meters from the finish line took down several riders including Eastman, but the young American rider showed great resiliency in picking himself off the pavement to cross the line in 13th place and gain some valuable points for his country in the UCI U23 Nations Cup rankings.

Also finishing strongly was Robin Carpenter (Philadelphia, Pa./Hincapie Sportswear Development Team) in 23rd place. Other U.S. finishers included Yannick Eckmann (Boulder, Colo./California Giant Cycling) in 60th place, Tanner Putt (Park City, Utah/Bissell Development Team) in 82nd position and Tyler Williams (Shafter, Calif./BMC Development Team) in 83rd place. Greg Daniel (Englewood, Colo./Bissell Development Team) also contested the race for the U.S. team.

The U23 men in the USA Cycling National Development Program have a busy week of racing ahead as they will contest La Cote Picarde in France on April 16 and then two separate U23 squads will race at the ZLM Tour in the Netherlands on April 19 and the Ardennes Challenge, a group of four one-day races in Belgium, April 18-21.

The women's squad will travel to Spain on April 14 to preview the world championship course before returning to contest Ronde van Gelderland in the Netherlands on April 20.

The junior riders will keep busy by competing at the three-stage Ster van Zuid Limburg, April 19-21 in the Netherlands, as well as the Haspengouw Tour in Belgium for the 15-16 year olds on April 21.

MORE ABOUT THE USA CYCLING NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Want to be part of USA Cycling’s Development Program? The first step is getting on USA Cycling’s radar. One of the best ways to do this is by attending a USA Cycling Regional Talent Identification Camp. The primary goal of the Talent ID Camps is to recognize athletes who, at an early age, show signs of potential future success in cycling. Receiving instruction from some of USA Cycling’s finest coaches, the camps also provide the necessary framework to improve the athletes' skill set thus helping them progress in their talent development. In some cases, the Regional Talent ID Camps assist in selecting riders for international competition and/or a national development camp.

For more information and the full 2014 schedule of USA Cycling’s Regional Talent ID Camps, please click here.

This Article Published April 14, 2014
For more information contact: bkellick -at- usacycling dot org

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